Bedroom of our AirBnb
Map of Air BnB Location
La Sagrada Familia
Train to Madrid
Continued onto to Salamanca, with a 600 year old university, 200 year old Roman bridge and was the centre of hte Franco regime during the civil war.
Arrived late and hotel is a long way from anywhere, went a walk and coffee.
Tania has a very bad cough which she picked up on tour, but it kept her up most of the night last night. We caught a taxi to the airport to collect our hire car - a Citroen C4 Diesel automatic with a Satnav. Practiced driving around town getting used to left hand drive and on the wrong side of the road! Carcassonne has a walled city with Roman roots from the 1st century, then a lot of development during Medieval times.
We had a quick look around Carcassonne including visiting the famous walled city that is used in a number of movies set in medieval times, including Robin Hood. Quite impressive structures, but very commercialised. Hamburger for dinner - we start our self drive tour tomorrow !
Planned route for today - Lagrasse Abbey - Beziers -Millieu Bridge. Our Satnav was set to take thee shortest route possible, so we find ourselves driving through farm lanes before finally finding a bitumen road. Exciting way to commence our first drive in Europe !
Lagrasse Abbey was a beautiful little French village tucked away in the mountains with awesome scenery.
We had heard about the Orbe Aqueduc at Beziers and it was worth it. This is where two rivers meet and boats transgress a lock to get from one to the other. Luckily we were able to see some boats go through the lock while we were there.
From there we drove north specifically to see the Millieu Viaduct, a suspension bridge that spans a valley at ta very high altitude, and is spectacular. Did the mandatory drive across the bridge (7.5 euro toll), got to the other side, did a u-turn and came back -- yes - another 7.5 euro toll !! Expensive sight seeing !!
We booked a room via booking.com while on the road at Clearmont l'Hautre - which turned out to be a home stay BnB. It was lovely, friendly hosts and beautiful surround.
Planned route for today - Lagrasse Abbey - Beziers -Millieu Bridge. Our Satnav was set to take thee shortest route possible, so we find ourselves driving through farm lanes before finally finding a bitumen road. Exciting way to commence our first drive in Europe !
We had heard about the Orb Aqueduc at Beziers and it was worth it. This is where two rivers meet and boats transgress a lock to get from one to the other.
From there we drove north specifically to see the Millieu Viaduct, a suspension bridge that spans a valley at ta very high altitude, and is spectacular. Did the mandatory drive across the bridge (7.5 euro toll), got to the other side, did a u-turn and came back -- yes - another 7.5 euro toll !!
We booked a room via booking.com while on the road at Clearmont l'Hautre - which turned out to be a home stay BnB. It was lovely, friendly hosts and beautiful surround.
Tried to find accommodation before we left. ended up in a small town called Lauris, in a basic, basic apartment. No sheets, no towels, no wi-fi, no parking and a fold out sofa bed !!
Tried to find accommodation the for the night before we left and settled on an apartment at Lauris, a little town in the mountains. Well ... it took us forever to find the apartment, no parking within 300 metres and it was an authentic 18th century apartment ! True it only cost us 44 Euros, but wow it was different.
Left at 2.30pm to see St Tropez ... what a mistake, it was glitzy Gold Coast, but ten times over .. and the traffic often was at a standstill which put us back nearly 1 hour causing us to run late for our accommodation stop which we didn't get to until 7.00 pm that night.Stayed at Mandelieu la Napoule, near Cannes.
Room was very nice except for the distance from the reception and the microwave didn’t work. We challenged the staff about the microwave next morning and received a 10euro refund.
Got going around 10.00am towards Cannes, which we drove through but didn’t see anything that attracted us to stop, not much there at all.
Tania wanted to visit the Fragonard perfume factory at Grasse, where they have made perfume for centuries. We did a tour which explained the process and bought some Gare de Perfume. We also visited another museum in the town, where Tania was intrigued by the clothing and fashion items displayed.
From there we drove through and got lost in Nice ... didn't get out the car ... decided to drive on, to Monaco, but it was getting late and after our St Tropez experience we gave Monaco a miss as well and drove straight onto Italy and a little town called Ventimiglia. What a gem ! As soon as we got here we decided to stay 2 nights.
Anyway arrived in Ventimglia and sat down at a cafe that had wifi and tried to find some accommodation. Found and booked a BnB slightly off the Esplanade and it turned out to be a gem. As soon as we arrived we decided to book in for a second night. Fantastic hosts and great accommodation.
Next day we took a drive into the mountains on the host's recommendation to see Dolceacqua and Apricale, 2 medieval villages nestled in the mountains. They were GREAT ! Worth driving along some of the roads which were often only wide enough for one car !!
We returned early for a restful afternoon, chicken schnitzels and salad for dinner. After planning our next few days, we decided to skip Genoa and Porrtfino, heading straight to Cinque Terra. We found a BnB at Levanto for 70Euros a night ! Early night.
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Sunday morning breakfast was good at Le Rose, we caught the 9.12 am train into Florence and we were both just blown away, what a fantastic city with so much to see. We met a man at the train station who sold us a city map for 1 euro, and he highlighted all the attractions. He said it would save us the need to take a hop on hop off bus tour, and he was right, except for attractions outside the city area. So today we just walked around following his map, and loved what we found.The city was full of surprises and we treated ourselves to a leather jacket each ! Also was able to find a new camera...everybody happy.
Paid for 2 hours parking but only used 1. Town was quiet but full of restuarants.
Did the full walk around then off to Siena in pelting rain on the road.
Cristina was very welcoming and this was shaping up to be the best accommodation so far !
Decided to hightail it out of Tuscany and head north to Bologna tomorrow. Had delicious pizza for lunch in San Gimignano and Graeme had a gelato. San Gimignano was a very touristy town while Volterra was more lay back.
Did some more supermart shopping back in Sienna and chicken for dinner and made sandwiches for our drive tomorrow.
Decided to hightail it out of Tuscany and head north to Bologna tomorrow. Had delicious pizza for lunch in San Gimignano and Graeme had a gelato. San Gimignano was a very touristy town while Volterra was more lay back.
Did some more supermart shopping back in Sienna and chicken for dinner and made sandwiches for our drive tomorrow.
For the first time on our trip we found our hotel without any trouble! Drove straight off the highway and saw it straight away. Checked in and caught the bus into the city centre.
Bologna was a pleasantly surprising city, lots of medieval buildings and lots of covered, connecting walkways Only the afternoon to spend walking around the city, found more leaning towers and lots of other interesting buildings, market, shops and unearthed roman stones beneath the Church of Bologna.
We climbed one of the leaning towers for a bird's eye view .. 498 steps of Asinello’s Tower.. If you think the photos exaggerate the angle of the towers .. they don't !
Oh, had pasta bolognese in Bologna of course (this is the home of Bolognese sauce) !! Certainly worth the visit here !!
Arrived around noon, checked in and caught the bus #19 into Venice. Arrived just before 2.00 pm and left at 8.00 pm. Took all that time just to walk one track around the main area of the city. Lots of small alleyways, bridges, canals and gondolas !
Find our way around proved challenging and we had 2 maps to help us. San Marco Square was very pleasant.
Venice was one of planned must see places and it did not disappoint. It is so different to other cities and just understanding how it was built (on 10,000,000 tree trunks driven into the mud, trees from Slovenia) ...wow ！！！ We walked for 5 hours the first day, caught water buses to the islands of Murrano, Burrano and Mazzorbo, then back in the third day for more walking and discoveries. Loved it. NB don't wear a backpack in a Murrano glass shop.
This turned out to be a casual day looking around the
portions of Venice we hadn’t yet ventured into. Tania was keen to see the
Textile Museum, but would you believe it is closed on Mondays ! So we went to
the glove shop, bracelet shop, some cakes, coffee and early dinner at same
restaurant as last night. Back at the hotel by 5.20pm to work out the next stage
of the trip … maybe Verona ??
We were going to heading to Verona, but last minute change of plans saw us dropping into Padua for a quick 1 hour visit and look around and then onto Mantova for the night.
Had time to catch a bus into the old city and have a wander around and were once again pleasantly surprised with what we found. Accommodation was brand new and looked fantastic! Unfortunately the oven blew the circuit breaker every time we switched it on, the hot water in the shower was barely warm, and we re-wrote their English guidelines and instructions for guests due to their interesting attempt of translation from Italian to English!
We stepped up from the metro station straight into the Piazza Duomo .. .WOW .. a spectacular basilica and the Galleria fronting a large piazza !!
First two nights we were able to cook our own dinner again which was a pleasant change. While on the hop on hop off bus we were sitting up top on the open deck freezing, so Graeme decided to buy a scarf from a street vendor to keep warm. Tania then called me Graeme Pooleo as she said I just looked like a local. We had to move hotels though, but it was worth it.
The second hotel was on the way out of Milan on the road toward Torino – our next planned destination. The Hotel H2C @ Miantiori was next to a huge shopping outlet with discount stores and still open at 3.30pm when we arrived. We purchased dinner there. We both said Milano was a winner and we would return one day.
There is still evidence of Roman city walls and a Teatro which was discovered when excavations for extensions to one of the palaces occurred. Located on the banks of the River Po, we couldn't say it is a pretty city, but there is a lot of uniformity in the architecture and layout.
There are covered walkways, market place (Flea and food), palaces, cathedrals, just another Italian city. We stumbled across a service in the duomo, with a large procession occurring.
We opted for Chinese and really enjoyed it!
Chambery turned out to be a nice little town as you can see. after not being able to see the Shroud of Turin in Turin, there was a display here in the church which was very informative and had a full size photo of the shroud. Probably saw it better than we would have if able in Turin.
Saturday - Explored more of Lyon, but then had to pack to get ready for train to Paris tomorrow!
Sunday 11th- Thursday 15th October 2015 France - Paris
Saturday 17th- Sunday 18th October 2015 Englande - York
Monday 19 th October 2015 England - Helmsley & Rievaulx & Scarborough
Tuesday 20th October 2015 England - Tynemouth
Wednesday 21st - Thursday 22nd October 2015 Scotland - Edinburgh
Friday 23rd October 2015 England - Carlilse
Saturday 24th October 2015 England - Windermere (Stott Hill), Chester
From there we headed to North Wales and a seaside town called Llandudno for the night. On the way we just puzzled at the road signs in Welsh ... there is no way we could ever try to learn or understand it, but we had fun trying to pronounce some of the signs.
We drove through Windermere on the way which appeared to be a very popular tourist spot and so busy we didn't bother to stop. From there we drove on to Chester where we had a quick stop and walk through the Tudor Rows ! Four main streets had a "Row" connecting all commercial premises at the first floor level...very unusual and established in the 17th century !
Saturday 24th October 2015 Wales - Llandudno
Sunday 25th October 2015 Wales - L
Arrived in town to find their was food festival in progess, so finding a park proved difficult. Finally got into the castle and looked around for about an hour.
Another traffic block out of town meant we missed out on visiting Caerefron Castle cause we still had a 2.5 hour drive to get to Church Stretton, where we were meeting our friend Diane.
Monday 26th - October 2015 England - Church Stretton, Wenlock Priory, Ironbridge and Shrewsbury
Tuesday 27th - October 2015 England - Church Stretton, Stokesay Castle, Church Stoke and Bishop Castle
Wednesday 28th - October 2015 England - Cotswold
Thursday 28th - October 2015 England - Bath
Friday 28th - October 2015 England - Poole
From there onto to Poole to stay the night of course !
Found a self catering apartment. Had a nice walk around Poole next morning .. town looks as if it is struggling with lots of vacant shops. Still a lovely harbour and again lots of historic building in the old city centre.
Saturday 29th - Sunday 30th October 2015 England - Brighton
Saturday we headed off toward Brighton with a quick stop and walk down the pier at Bournemouth, where we had to pay a toll to enter the pier.
Stayed at the White Horse Hotel at Rottingdean, about 6km from Brighton, just a short bus ride. Spent whole day walking around Brighton finding "The Lanes" and "North Laines" very interesting and of course a walk along the foreshore and down the Brighton Pier.
Early day to get back and pack our bags after using the car for a mobile suit case for the last 18 days we have to drop the car back tomorrow,
Monday 2nd October - Friday 6th November 2015 England - London
Saturday 26th - Tuesday 10th November 2015 UAE - Dubai